New-build aircraft would cover any significant service-entry delays for F-35 JSF
Boeing has revealed details of the proposed F-15E+ “Super Eagle”, which is being offered as a “fourth-generation plus” fighter stopgap to the US Air Force in case of significant delays to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
The new-build proposal, expected to be offered at a target price of $59 million (2006 US dollars) versus roughly $60 million-plus for the baseline F-35, would be available in 2012-13 assuming an authority to proceed decision in 2009. “That would butt-up against when the last F-15SGs [for Singapore] come off the line,” says Boeing USAF programmes business development director, Dick Banholzer. Although acknowledging the lukewarm reception the proposal has so far received from USAF chief Gen Michael Moseley, Banholzer says the F-15E+ is being offered “in the event of a catastrophic event like JSF being delayed. We have an option available to him that fits the needs of today.”
Boeing is detailing the proposed aircraft’s capabilities to underscore that the “F-15E+ is not your father’s Oldsmobile. The chief of the air force says: ‘I like F-22, F-22 and F-22’. That’s his first, second and third priority. That’s his party line and he’s got to say that. But we have to educate people to let them know what this aircraft is, and what it could do,” Banholzer says.
The F-15E+ package extends both weapons and sensor capabilities, he adds. Equipped with the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System and a yet-to-be-determined active electronically scanned array radar, the aircraft would have smart weapons carriage capability on up to 19 stations. Advanced weapons options include LJDAM, Brimstone, HSSW and an extended-range, powered small diameter bomb.
Offered with an enhanced electro-optic sensor suite including navigation and targeting pods, as well as an infrared search and track system embedded in the pylon, the Super Eagle would also have a more sophisticated self-protection suite. Comprising an emitter locating system, ALE-50 towed decoy, and AAR-57 missile warning system along with jammers, chaff-flare and radar-warning receivers, the make-over is designed to allow the Super Eagle to “survive in a modern high-threat environment”, he adds.
Source: Flight International
